Chakles cleave



No. 620,279. Patented Feb. 28,1899. C. CLEAVE.

ROTARY ENGINE.

(Application filed Aug. 10, 1898.)

UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE.

CHARLES OLEAVE, OF FARMINGTON, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM J. KIRKPATRIOK, OF SAME PLACE.

ROTARY ENGIN SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,279, dated February 28, 1899.

Application filed August 10, 1898. Serial No. 688,280. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES CLEAVE,a citizen of the United States, residing at Farmington, in the county of Van Buren and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Rotary Engine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in rotary engines in which a tubular stationary shaft is employed in connection with a rotatable cylinder serving as the means by which power maybe taken from the engine and the objects that I have in view are to simplify the means for admitting steam to and exhausting it from the engine-cylinder, to actuate the traveling piston by positive mechanical connections with a stationary part of the engine, .so as to clear the fixed abutment, and to provide packings throughout the several working parts for reducing leakage of steam to a minimum.

With these ends in view the invention consists in the novel combination of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand the invention, I have illustrated the samein the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation in the plane of the non-rotatable shaft. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the means for adjusting' the traveling piston on its axis. Fig. et is au enlarged detail view through the abutment and the chambered sleeve on the non-rotatable arbor or shaft. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the face-plate at the righthand end of the cylinder shown by Fig. 1.

Like numerals of reference denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying my invention into practice I employ a stationary non-rotatable shaft or arbor 2, which is mounted in suitable supports on a framework or bed-plate, so as to be held in a fixed position thereon. This arbor or shaft is provided with longitudinal passages 2 3, which are divided or separated by an intervening partition 4, and this shaft has an inlet-port 5, which opens into the passage 2, and an exhaust-port 6, that communicates with the passage 3.

A chambered sleeve 7 surrounds the shaft within the engine-cylinder, and this sleeve is united or iixed rigidly to the shaft concentric therewith, or it may be made as a part of the shaft. At one end this sleeve 7 is provided with a chamber 8, which through, the radial port 5 communicates with the passage 2 of the shaft l. In its other end this sleeve 7 is provided with an exhaust-chamber 9, and communication between said chamber 9 and the shaft-passage 3 is established by a port 6.

The abutment 10 extends radially from the circumference of the sleeve of the non-rotatable shaft, and this abutment projects into Athe annular chamber of the cylinder 11. This cylinder is mounted on the shaft to rotate freely thereon, andthe diameter of the cylinder is greater than that of the shaft and its sleeve, so as to form the steam-chamber 12, into which projects the iixed abutment lO. The cylinder is concentric with the shaft and its sleeve, and at one end the cylinder has a head 13, which is preferably integral with the annular shell thereof. The open end of the cylinder is closed by a face-plate 14, which is lsecured rigidly to the cylinder-shell and is lfitted loosely on the shaft, and against the other'end or head 13 of the cylinder is secured a Iianged face-plate 15, which serves as a housing for the devices that positively actuate the piston, which travels with the cylinder in its rotation. 4

In my engine the stationary abutment 10 serves a twofold purpose in that it answers as a head for the pressure of steam and as the means for'supplying steam to and exhausting it from the cylinder. This abutment is provided with a feed-channel 16, which at one end communicates with the chamber 8 in the sleeve, and its other end opens through one face of the abutment. In this abutment is also provided the exhaust-channel 17, which opens through the opposite face of the abutment and communicates with the chamber 9 in the sleeve of said shaft.

18 designates the piston, which is mounted in thecylinder to rotate or travel therewith.

IOO

end of the recess 26.

This piston consists of a flat plate arranged transversely within the recess formed in the inner face of the cylinder, and saidpiston-is carried by a shaft 19, which is provided at its ends with disk-like heads 20, that are fitted in annular recesses in the face-plates at the ends of the cylinder. The ends of the piston-shaft are j ournaled in the cylinder-heads 13 14, and said shaft is prolonged to have one end extend into the chamber of the ilanged plate 15, and to this prolonged end of the piston-shaft is rigidly secured a gear-pinion 22. An adjusting-block 23 is also secured to this prolonged end of the piston-shaft, and in practice I prefer to attach the adjuster and the gear-pinion to said shaft by a common key-fastener. The adjuster is formed with the bearing-faces 24, and it is arranged to ride or travel on the edge of a plate 25, which forms a cam-track. This track-plate is provided with a notch or recess 26, having rounded edges on which the adjuster is adapted to ride smoothly and easily in the rotation of the cylinder. Between the head 13 of the rotary cylinder and the fixed cam-plate 25 on the non-rotatable shaft or arbor is arranged adisk 27, which is provided with a series of gear-teeth 28, arranged opposite to the notch or recess 26 in the plate 25, and in therotation of the cylinder the adjuster 27 rides on the circular edge of the plate 25 to maintain the piston in its proper relation to the sleeve 7 until the adjuster reaches a point near one At this interval the piston approaches the iixed abutment, and as the adjuster enters the recess the gear-pinion 22 meshes with the rack-teeth 28, thereby turning the piston on its axis and causingit to clear the fixed abutment, whereby the piston is positively turned so as to travel past the fixed abutment.

`The joints between the face-plates of the rotary cylinder and the non-rotatablearbor or shaft are rendered steam-tight by the employment of bushings 29, which are fitted snugly to the cylinder face-plates and are screwed or otherwise fastened rigidly on the shaft.

The cylinder is fashioned externally to serve the purpose of a pulley, around which may be passed a belt to communicate power from the engine to a shaft or machinery; but

in the drawings I have shown the rotary cyl` inder as equipped with a pulley 30, which circumscribes the cylinder and is united firmly thereto by the studs or bolts 31.

The end faces of the sleeve 7 are provided with annular grooves 32, and the abutment 10 has radial grooves 33 in its end faces. VPackings 34 are fitted in the grooves of the sleeve and the abutment to engage with 4the face-1 plates of the cylinder, and packings 35are interposed between the journal-disk 20 of the piston-shaft and the faceplate-14 of the cyl-` inder. j

Changes may be made in the form of some! of the parts, while their essential featuresarel retained and the spirit of the invention em-y bodied. Hence I do not desire to be limited to the precise form of all the parts as shown, reserving the right to vary therefrom.

vThe face-plate 14 at one end of the revoluble cylinder is provided with a segmental cuto or valve plate 36, which projects from the inner face of said plate and extends into the chamber 8 at one end of the sleeve, so as to close the port 5 at regular intervals in the rotation of the cylinder. A similar cut-od or valve plate 37 is provided on the head 13 of the cylinder to extend into the chamber 9 of the sleeve and close the port 6, and these cutoff or valve plates are thus operated by the cylinder in its rotation to control the admission and exhaust of steam to and from the engine.

While I have described my improved engine as especially adapted for operation by steam-pressure, I do not strictly confine myself to the employment of this particular mo tive fluid, as I am aware that the engine may be driven by compressed air or other iiuid under pressure.

\ Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- 1. In a rotary engine, the combination with a stationary shaft having an abutment, and a revoluble cylinder, of a piston pivoted in said cylinderto travel therewith and provided with an adjuster which is located outside of the steam-chamber in said cylinder, a camtrack fast with said shaft and arranged thereon for the adjuster to ride thereupon formaintaining kthe piston in `a stationary position relatively to the abutment, and intermeshing gearing between the piston and the cam-track for positively rotating the piston as it approaches and clears the abutment, substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine, a revoluble cylinder having its ends or face-plates provided `with coincident recesses, a piston-axle provided with heads that are loosely fitted in said recesses of thecylinder-heads and said axle carrying a piston which projects into the steamspace of the cylinder, an adjuster fast withthe piston-axle, and a gear also fixed to the axle, in combination with a non-revoluble shaft having an abutment which projects into the steam-chamber of the cylinder, and a camtrack fast with the shaft in the path of the piston-adjuster and having a rack with which the piston-gear is adapted to mesh, substantially as described.

` 3. In a rotary engine, the combination with a non-rotatable arbor orshaft having steam- `passages and the fixed abutment,and a rotatable cylinder, of a traveling piston mounted for rotation in said cylinder and having a gear arranged to mesh at intervals with a rack, a cam-track, and an adjuster movable Awith the piston and having traveling contact "with said cam-track, substantially as delscribed.

4. In a rotary engine, the combination with IOO a non-rotatable arbor or shaft having a fixed abutment and a rotatable cylinder, of a traveling piston revolubly mounted within the cylinder and provided With a gear-pinion, a notched cam-track fixed to said shaft or arbor, an adjuster mounted on the piston-shaft to ride upon the cam-track, and a disk fixed to the shaft and having rack-teeth opposite to the notched end of the cam-track and in the path of the gear-pinion on the piston-shaft, substantially as described.

5. In a rotary engine, the combination of a non revoluble shaft having a chambered sleeve, a fixed abutment provided with steamchannels which open through opposite faces of said abutment, a revoluble cylinder having its heads provided with segmental cut-od plates which are fitted in the chambered sleeve over the steam-ports therein, a traveling piston mounted in the cylinder to rotate therewith, and means for periodically and positively adjusting the piston out of the path of the abutment, substantially as described.

6. In a rotary engine, a non-revoluble shaft having the steam-passages, a sleeve Xed to said shaft and provided with the chambers which communicate with said shaft-passages, and a fixed abutment projecting radially from the sleeve and provided with steam-passages which open through opposite faces of said abutment, in combination with a cylinder mounted on said shaft and having valveplates which extend into the chambers of the sleeve to iit over the ports therein, and a piston mounted in said cylinder to travel therewith, substantially as described.

7. In a rotary engine, the combination of a shaft having iiuid passages, a chambered sleeve communicating with said shaf tpassages, a radial abutment provided with independent passages which communicate with the chambers of said sleeve, a revoluble cylinder, a piston journaled in the cylinder to travel therewith, a cam-track, and an adjuster fast with the piston-axle and riding on the cam-track to positively throw the piston out of the path of the abutment, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES CLEAVE.

Witnesses:

W. C. MILLER, FRED KICK. 

